Catherine Duleep Singh

Catherine Duleep Singh
Singh at her debut, Buckingham Palace, 1894
Born	Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh 27 October 1871 (1871-10-27) Elveden Hall, Elveden, Suffolk, England
Died	8 November 1942(1942-11-08) (aged 71) Penn, Buckinghamshire
Names Princess Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh
Father	Duleep Singh
Mother	Bamba Müller

Princess Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh (27 October 1871 – 8 November 1942), was the second daughter of Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh and Maharani Bamba (née Müller). She was educated in England and in 1894 she was presented at Court. She became a suffragist with her sisters, but did not take part in Emmeline Pankhurst’s Suffragette movement though her sister Sophia did.^[1]

She was a lifelong romantic companion of governess Lina Schäfer and from 1904 lived with her in Germany until the latter's death in 1937. She requested her burial at Lina's side in her will. Catherine and Lina were instrumental in aiding many Jewish families escape from Germany during World War II.

In June 1997, her name was in the news upon the discovery of a dormant joint (with Schäfer) bank account in a Swiss bank. After several claimants had been rejected, the contents of the bank account were awarded by a Swiss tribunal to the family of a secretary of her elder sister Bamba in Pakistan.